In these times of trial and trouble, we must be joyfully grateful for the glimpse God has provided of His work, which extends far beyond our imagination. God is working on a plan to create a perfect peace that will prevent war within all of His creation forever. Right now, He has given us everything needed to bear the torches of sacrifice, ensuring that God's peace and our role in it will endure eternally. God has been working with absolute understanding from eternity to establish a peace of unity and harmony that will never be broken, and we have a responsibility to live up to this peace, even as the drums of war attempt to pull us into conflict. Our citizenship lies in a carefully prepared place within the Kingdom of God, beyond the heavens and earth we now see, where perfect peace will reign. We must focus on Jesus Christ and the sacrificial offering that brings us into perfect peaceful harmony with Him and the Father right now. We can experience this peace by valiantly staying the course in sacrificial devotion to God and man, in accordance with God's will. Though complete peace will only come when God's project is finished, our current actions significantly influence our state of mind as we strive toward this goal. Jesus Christ, as the Prince of Peace, governs and shows us how to achieve a real and lasting peace, preparing us to assist others returning from this war to end all wars. We must not let the chaos and confusion around us pull us away from the peace of God that is ours through Jesus Christ, just as it will be for all who follow behind Him. Jesus Christ is working everything toward a perfect peace that surpasses anything we can imagine, ensuring that war against God's way of life will never be an issue again. When our High Priest, Jesus Christ, proclaims, It is done, the perfect peace of God that surpasses all understanding will be established forever, uniting a Family perfectly aligned with the Father in devotion and outgoing concern for each other eternally.

The peace of God is a profound gift that addresses the turmoil and upsetting situations that enter our lives. When we face challenges such as losing a job, illness, or the death of a loved one, everything can seem in disarray. In such times of stress, we desperately need personal peace, and God provides this peace to help us handle these situations. By asking Him for it in specific troubles, we receive a peace that transcends all human understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This peace of God is distinct from a permanent state of reconciliation with Him; it is given for specific incidents of tribulation or trial, enabling us to find calm even amidst emotional turmoil. Though we may temporarily lose our sense of this peace due to tragic circumstances or disappointments, it does not mean our fundamental relationship with God is broken. Knowing that He has made peace with us allows us to approach Him quickly and boldly in prayer, finding the help we need. This peace of God, received through faith, ensures that we can always return to Him, as faith will inevitably point us back to our true home in God.

Man has long desired peace, but found it elusive because he does not know how to acquire it. In the New Testament church, peace means far more than material prosperity or physical safety; it signifies spiritual well-being, completeness, and stability of mind. True, heartfelt peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but a positive, proactive yielding to God and goodwill toward all. God has called His saints to peace, expecting them to keep His commandments, and in return, He grants peace of mind. When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Sin separates man from God, causing confrontation and wrath, which is anything but peaceful. Peace leads to more peace, washing away strife and fear as a river sweeps away debris. God grants peace as a gift through Jesus Christ, opening the way for peace between man and God, and between man and man, through the suffering and sacrifice of Christ. Forgiveness of sin and healing bring great peace of mind and body, while wisdom facilitates unity and peace. God gives His peace to those of a pure or righteous heart and mind, and this deep, spiritual peace remains unaffected by the world's strife when one truly trusts in God's redemptive plan, strives to produce His character, and remains obedient to His Word. Righteousness produces peace with qualities of quietness and assurance, while peace provides the proper environment for righteousness to grow, each building upon the other. Making peace requires real effort; although a gift from God through Christ, peace must be sought through conscious effort to overcome, while asking God to grant it.

Like my sermons during the Days of Unleavened Bread, this sermon will focus on peace. Part One, which I gave on the first day of Unleavened Bread, dealt with Christ's sacrifice to create peace between God and mankind. Now that we have been given grace and been justified by God, we have peace with Him. We have an opportunity for a relationship with Him. And so we can live in a way that other people in this world cannot. Because other people in this world, as Romans 8 tells us, are in enmity with God. They cannot keep His law. They cannot have a relationship with God because this kind of peace, in which our sins are forgiven and we can come before the Father through Jesus Christ and His blood, just has not been applied to them. Part Two, which I gave on the last day of Unleavened Bread, covered another kind of peace. It is related, but not the same. This kind of peace is the one Christ gives to believers through the Holy Spirit, which He promised to His disciples who had made the New Covenant. He said very clearly there in John 14 that He left His peace with them. I give you My peace, He says, and so there is a certain kind of peace that comes from Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and it, along with grace, we found, should be the reigning condition of our lives so we can grow in righteousness. Remember Paul starting off his epistles with grace and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Those things, that grace that the Father gives and the peace that the Son gives, makes the perfect environment for us to begin growing after our justification, our sanctification process, as we call it. Now this sermon, Part Three, will deal with a third facet of peace that arises from one's perception of wholeness or completeness. This is an internal mindset. We could call it even a state of being that is inextricably linked to God's gift of peace. We have peace. We have this feeling of completeness, of wholeness, of contentment because of what Christ does for us and how He leads us through our lives. Another way to look at it is that we can think of it as our proper reaction or response to the peace He gives. When Christ gives us His peace and we are under the state of peace with God, then it falls on us to do something with that peace, with that environment, with the other gifts that He gives us. And if we do it right, we live in a state of peace, in a state of contentment, in a state of, you could even call it shalom, of well-being. So with this kind of peace working within us, we feel the proper kind of satisfaction and contentment. We look at our lives and can smile and say things are well. Things are going as they should go. We are content with our lot and we need nothing further to make our life joyful and full of purpose and achievement. Now this is not like the Laodicean, who said he had need of nothing. He was saying that he did not need Christ. But I am saying that once we have Christ and we are reacting and responding to Him in the proper way, we truly do not need anything more. When we have this peace, because we are responding to the Father's and the Son's peace given to us, we are also content because we know we are going somewhere special. That it is not just our life today that is good because of Christ being in it and working with us, but He has also got us on a trajectory for the ultimate in achievements, if you want to put it that way, the eternal life in the Kingdom of God. So we can have a proper sense of satisfaction with our lives because of all those things put together. Acknowledging, of course, that it is only through Christ and what God does that these things have come upon us and helped us and are providing for us in every way. Let us go to Hebrews 13, verses 20 through 21. This is where we ended last time on the last day of Unleavened Bread, and I want to use this as a springboard for the rest of this sermon. The author writes: For those of you who like to think about who wrote the epistle to the He

The Peace of God, as illustrated in various accounts, embodies a profound tranquility amidst adversity, much like a mother bird sheltering her hatchlings in a stormy crag, portraying a secure, portable peace. This singular, undivided trust in the face of unstable conditions mirrors the serenity Jesus Christ displayed during a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, sleeping unperturbed in the stern of the boat. Similarly, Peter, on the eve of his execution, rested in deep peace, trusting in God's purpose, undisturbed until roused by an angel. This peace, surpassing all understanding, emerges from a single-minded devotion to God, fostering harmony, while double-mindedness breeds disharmony and strife, as highlighted in the teachings of James. Jesus Christ Himself taught that peacemakers are blessed, for they shall be called the sons of God, emphasizing the importance of submitting to God's direction to receive peace of mind. The apostle Paul urges living peaceably with all, a challenging yet vital pursuit in environments that often erode tranquility. Jesus Christ, despite His busyness, sought solitude for prayer and renewal in solitary places, demonstrating the need for enclaves of peace to reconnect with God's serene timetable. As oases of God's Spirit, our lives should offer comfort and peace to all we encounter, reflecting the rest promised by Jesus Christ to the weary and heavy-laden, and embodying the peace of God that guards hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

In the midst of a world overflowing with words, the precise and powerful utterances of Jesus Christ stand out, especially His post-resurrection pronouncements of peace. When He appeared to His disciples, He greeted them with "Peace be with you," and reiterated with emphasis, "Peace to you," underscoring the profound significance of His words. This repetition, seen in John 20:19-22 and again in John 20:26-28 when Thomas was present, highlights His intent that none should miss this divine message following His sacrifice and resurrection. Jesus had previously clarified that His first coming was not to bring peace on earth but division, as noted in Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51, due to the separation caused by differing values and worldviews. Yet, in John 16:33, He offered a bridge, stating that in Him, His disciples could have peace despite worldly tribulation, for He had overcome the world. This peace, distinct from worldly peace, was further emphasized in John 14:27, where He declared, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." The concept of peace in Scripture, reflected in the Hebrew word shalom and the Greek word eirene, encompasses wholeness, harmony, tranquility, safety, and spiritual well-being, particularly within the community of believers. This peace, rooted in God's nature, was foreshadowed in the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 and in the story of Gideon in Judges 6:23-24, where the LORD spoke peace amidst fear and conflict, revealing Himself as the source of peace. When Jesus spoke peace to His disciples, His words carried the weight of His divine nature and authority, far surpassing ordinary speech. As seen in Isaiah 9:6-7, He is the Prince of Peace, whose government and peace will have no end. Isaiah 53:5 further connects His wounds to the peace He brings, a reality He demonstrated by showing His hands and side to the disciples. Through His sacrifice, peace with God was achieved, ending enmity and enabling peace among those in Him, as described in Ephesians 2:14-18. This peace, encompassing spiritual well-being and freedom from fear, is available to all in Christ. His eternal words command it, yet our connection to Him, as the Vine in John 15, determines its manifestation in our lives. As Jeremiah 29:11-13 affirms, God's thoughts toward His people are of peace, promising a future and hope to those who seek Him with all their heart.